Sexual and religious difference in religious education curriculum in Recife schools

Abstract

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14244/198271991396

This article discusses the results of a post-doctoral research conducted at the Pontifical Catholic University of Parana and funded by Capes (2014-2015). Its main objective was to evaluate the curriculum of the Religious Education discipline (ER), the presence or not of content that addresses sexual and religious differences in state and municipal schools in the city of Recife, state of Pernambuco. To this end, making use of the Discourse Theory (TD), we attempted to find the most relevant hegemonic discourses on the topics researched, seeking the meanings of concepts such as pluralism, citizenship, difference, tolerance, otherness, etc., among our respondents: school administrators, teachers of the discipline, and representatives of the state and municipal departments of education. Discourse Analysis (AD) was used as methodology, giving priority to identify the most current ideologies, in the main hegemonic discourses, in the speeches of the respondents surveyed. Results obtained in a total of 11 schools visited show difficulties in dealing with the themes of sexual difference and sexual diversity in religious education classes; difficulties in addressing the issue of religious pluralism involving non-Christian religions, particularly the African-Brazilian ones, which are neglected especially by evangelical teachers of the Pentecostal and neo-Pentecostal lines, who believe these religions present dangerous values and practices and, therefore, are not likely to be discussed in their classes.

Keywords: Religious education, Curriculum, Sexual and religious difference.